Court Square Theater

Submitted by Ralph Slate on Tue, 03/04/2008 - 01:42

This is a photo of the Court Square Theater before its expansion. Notice that there are no storefronts on the right side. The building was originally built in 1892, designed by F.S. Newman [Frederick Newman].

Compare to this photo from the Library of Congress; you will see that the original building was symmetrical design, but the addition was designed to be symmetrical with the rightmost bank of the original building, destroying the overall symmetry of the entire building. A sixth floor was also added during this expansion, which took place in 1900.

My Grandmother taught dance in Springfield and put on shows there at the Theatre in the mid 40's! She was a choreographer and she was also connected with Jacobs Pillow. I just can't seem to find any records on her!

Oh,my. Your grandmother was my ballet teacher in the 1950's. She and her partner(husband?) who played the piano put on wonderful recitals each year at the then Court Square Theatre with lavish costumes.
I still recall my purple tutu with the matching netting skirt as I was part of the rainbow in the Wizard of Oz.

Would like to donate a copy of a program for Gilmore's Court Square Theater for November 4 and 5, 1899 to historical society or the like. Would anyone be interested? Where should it be sent and to whom?

I am trying to get a photo of the front and interior of the old Court Square Theatre where I worked as the Assistant. Manager from August, 1948 until December, 1949. So far, after a LONG tme searching, I find only the two photos on this internet page. H-E-L-P !! Can anyone help me? Thanks! Chuck Burnes

Hi Chuck,
I just read your posting (on 4/10) about wanting photos of the Court Square Theater during the time period you worked there. You can get some photos of the marquee/entrance in the Geneology Room at the new Springfield Museum. On a shelf are large binded scrapbook volumes with old news clippings from the Spfld paper going back to the 1900's. The photos I know of were taken of the theater's front showing the marquee in the 1956 or 1957 article about the theater going to be razed. There's also another of a good close up of the front doors with the marquee's wordage above. If you go, find the volumes with articles in this year and you should come across them and can photocopy them there.
Also, there are theater files with photos of the interior taken prior to the razing. There's also several file boxes that contain all the production program books going back to the 1900's. I can't remember what year, but there is one particular program that had good photos of the stage, seats and balcony probably taken in the 1930's. There's a lot to go through before finding this particular program book. Other than these sources, photos of the Court Square taken in the '40's and '50's don't seem to exist unless in some private collections. Back in the 1990's, I contributed a small history of the downtown theaters with a compiliation of pictures taken from many sources. It's in one of the theater file boxes. Sadly, I never got a chance to even go inside the Court Sq because I was 4-5 years old when it was demolished. I recall being with my father in Court Square with other people watching as the marquee was removed from the building. The other downtown theaters I never saw were the Broadway and Garden since they came down when I was about 2-3. I do remember the Art very well, when I went to the Paramount. My friends and I would always peer in through the front doors, waiting for the day for it to reopen so we could go in. That never happened and in 1961, my father and I watched it being demolished.

If you want to check these theater files and program books, there is an archivist there during the week who will get you the file boxes. If you go on a Sat, you have to call the archivist and tell him what you want and he'll put them on his desk for you. He's not there on Sat. I hope I have been a help to you and that you find everything you want.
Take care,
Ed